On Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:48:32 -0500, Metspitzer >
wrote:

> The grocery chain, which mostly entices young, trendy city dwellers,
> is now moving into smaller, suburban areas where its new, smaller
> stores are seeing stronger returns. But to make it work, Whole Foods
> has to rid itself of its top-dollar reputation. A nickname like "Whole
> Paycheck" will make it tough to draw in the new demographic, since
> lower-priced competitors are homing in on the fresh-food fad.
>
> In its recent quarter, Whole Foods opened six stores, focusing on
> these new markets where its says rent is lower, square footage is
> smaller and competition for natural, organic food isn't as heated. The
> new stores saw sales per square foot rise 29% from a year earlier. In
> general, total sales at Whole Foods stores that have been open at
> least 53 weeks rose 8.7% in the quarter compared to the year before.
>
> "We've done surprisingly well in some of these secondary markets; a
> lot better than we thought we were going to do," said Co-Chief
> Executive Walter Robb on a conference call with analysts last week.
> "It's a very powerful economic model, so I think we're going to open a
> lot more of those types of stores."

We have one of these stores along with several of the original type
models... I still haven't gone inside the little one. Looks like any
other upscale corner grocery store. Can't imagine what it would have
that I'd want to hunt for a parking space just to look around inside.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.